Flory: a Pariah among the Anglo-Indians in Burmese Days

Abstract

This article attempts to explore the plight of the protagonist of George Orwell's Burmese Days. He is an Englishman feeling ill-at-ease in a Burmese outpost named Kyauktada during the Raj. Revolted by British racism and imperialism, disgusted by a native's knavery, disappointed in love, shunned by his countrymen, unable to come to terms with his lack of moral courage, and blemished by his surrounding until he is at the end of his tether. The drastic decision to end his own life appears a cowardly and an escapist act on his part but, at the same time, can be construed as his definitive protest against the wrong committed by the people around him. The influence of autobiographical elements of the author on the protagonist's character should be taken into account as should be other characters in some of the famous works in the novel's genre in establishing him as an outcast among his compatriots.